PAN-MASS CHALLENGE: Nothing can stop the Bicknells from riding

Monday

For Len Bicknell and his wife, Dolly, there is nothing that can stop the Marshfield couple from riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge.

The Bicknells might as well be race historians at this point as they just completed their 32nd race despite injury, age and even a wedding cancellation.

In 2016, Len Bicknell, 67, scheduled a knee replacement for early in the year to give him enough time to recover for his 31st PMC ride. A few years prior, Dolly Bicknell pushed off a hip replacement until after the event. She had trouble walking, but she could ride a bike, making the decision easy.

But the most fanatical decision to ride came when their daughter, Laura Bicknell-Carbone, had picked a wedding date on the same day as the PMC – the first weekend in August. Dolly Bicknell immediately interjected and said that Laura must change the date.

“My daughter looked at her like she didn’t believe it,” said Len Bicknell, who had been the president and CEO at the Alvin Hollis company in South Weymouth since 1989 before retiring in 2016. “I thought about it for a second and I agreed. That’s our weekend, we plan it way in advance and we’re not giving it up. (I said), ‘You can change your wedding date.’

“The PMC is only once a year and we’re not missing it. … Laura accepted it and now she’s ridden for 21 years so I guess she’s gotten used to the idea of the PMC too.”

The PMC, an annual bike-a-thon, raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country according to the PMC website. Since the event’s inception in 1980 when it was started by Billy Star, the event has raised $547 million.

Marked on the calendar

Len Bicknell, who first rode in the event in 1986, has raised over $750,000 for Dana-Farber.

“I regret when it ends,” said Len Bicknell. “As hard as it is riding 192 miles, I’ve come into Provincetown the last few years (thinking), ‘I wish it wasn’t ending. I wish we could just do this again.’ I feel like I’m ready to do it. Every year, there’s no decision. I’m prepared, I’ve been planning on it. My wife is the same. It’s on our calendar every summer. For as long as we can ride we’ll do it.

“It’s a great weekend. You come away feeling very invigorated about people, the good side of people.”

For Len Bicknell, who grew up in Marshfield, the PMC took on a new meaning when his father passed away from prostate cancer in 1989, just two months before the ride.

“(My father’s passing) was very fresh,” said Len Bicknell. “I had a lot of memories, riding along it was hour by hour thinking of my dad.

“I remember not realizing it, but I was pretty depressed after my dad died. It took me about six months to really start to realize how depressed I had been. … It was comforting to know that there thousands like me. It didn’t make the pain go away but it was somewhat comforting to have a community of people who had shared the same traumatic experience.”

Len Bicknell’s goal is to raise $35,000 this year. As of Monday afternoon, he had raised over $28,000. Last year, that total was over $38,000 and his highest donation came in 2004, when he raised nearly $60,000.

Dolly Bicknell donates all of her earnings from teaching tennis lessons to her PMC cause. She has raised nearly $22,000 this year and has surpassed over $30,000 every year since 2006.

Laura Bicknell-Carbone has ridden in 21 PMCs, only missing the event when she was pregnant. Her goal is to raise $10,000 this year.

To donate to the Bicknells, go to www.pmc.org and click ‘donate.’ From there, search for ‘Bicknell.’

All of the Bicknells are riding on the South Shore Health System team, which was formed last year. The money raised will go directly to the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center at South Shore Hospital. Len Bicknell is a longtime champion of the hospital and was, at one time, chairman of the hospital’s board of directors.

“Early on we really believed we were going to cure cancer just by doing this,” said Len Bicknell. “We (thought) we would go out and raise the money and in a few years this would be gone. We now realize that that was a little naïve. Cancer is a lot more complicated from a scientific point of view.”

Watching the PMC grow

Since his first ride back in 1986, Len Bicknell has seen the PMC mature exponentially.

From 1980-1989, the PMC tallied just shy of 5,000 riders and 2,000 volunteers which combined to raised nearly $4 million. In 2016 alone, the event boasted 6,200 riders and 4,000 volunteers who combined to raised $47 million.

“Every year was bigger,” said Len Bicknell. “I think the thing that changed over time was the response from the general public became much more dramatic. People started lining the roads back in the 90s, I don’t know exactly when. Cancer survivors, cancer victims, people undergoing treatment, they would come out.

“The public awareness changed and that really made the event different because it really brought the cancer community into the event in a big way.”